Paulo Di Canio shelves transfer plans

Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio says until they are assured of Premier League safety all his transfer plans are on hold.

The 6-1 drubbing by fellow strugglers Aston Villa on Monday night has dragged the Black Cats back into the relegation dog-fight at the wrong end of the table.

After back-to-back wins over Newcastle and Everton it had looked as though Di Canio would be able to start planning for next season early, with Lazio defender Modibo Diakite and centre-back Valentin Roberge from Maritimo both linked this week.

The defeat has put an end to those hopes and Di Canio will now wait until the summer.

When asked about Diakite and Roberge, the Italian said: “I don’t talk about players who are not in the team, never mind ones who are not at the club.
“I have not thought about transfers yet – absolutely nothing.

“Everything can change. You can feel safe and then – boom – you can be hit like a hammer.”

“We have to make sure we are safe first. I cannot think about transfers until then,” he added.

“Even if we win against Stoke on Monday night and that makes us nearly safe, I still will not think about transfers.

“I want to be sure of safety first. Normally you would start to think about transfers maybe in February but, that is not the case for us.”